Bust of Alessandro Peretti di Montalto

Bust of Alessandro Peretti di Montalto

Artist	Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Year	1622 (1622)
Catalogue	81 (7)
Type	Sculpture
Material	Marble
Dimensions	Life-size
Location	Kunsthalle, Hamburg
Coordinates	Coordinates: 53°33′18″N 10°0′11.88″E / 53.55500°N 10.0033000°E / 53.55500; 10.0033000

The Bust of Alessandro Peretti di Montalto is a portrait sculpture by the Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Executed in 1622 and 1623, the sculpture is currently housed in the Kunsthalle Hamburg, in Germany. Although possibly mentioned by one of Bernini's early biographers, the bust had been considered lost and therefore makes no appearance in Rudolf Wittkower's catalogue of Bernini’s sculptures of 1955. However, the bust was identified in the 1980s and is now considered an authentic work by Bernini.^[1]

Commissioning

Bernini had already been commissioned by Cardinal Montalto to create the Neptune and Triton fountain for his gardens at the Villa Montalto on the outskirts of Rome, and was involved in the commissioning of the David statue that eventually ended up in the Villa Borghese. But the precise reason behind this bust is unclear; given that Cardinal Montalto died in 1623, it has been suggested the bust was created as part of a funerary tomb.^[2] However, Montalto may well himself have commissioned the bust prior to his death ^[1]

History

The bust was recorded as being in the Villa Montalto in the early 1660s and then in the "Casa Peretti" in 1682. The bust arrived in Hamburg Kunsthalle after 1910, being donated as part of the collection of the Anglo-German Sir John Henry von Schroder.^[1]

Appearance

Although only recently re-discovered by art historians the sculpture is well appreciated. Hess comments that "the expression of deep thought and concentration on the cardinal ... gives a great sense of animation to this bust. Bernini has included remarkably naturalistic details, such as the fine hair of his unshaven cheeks, the fleshly lower lip ... and the pockmarks flanking his nose".^[1] Meanwhile, Lavin mentions the “extraordinary qualities of vitality and refinement with which Bernini suffused the conventions of formal ecclestical portraiture.” ^[2]

Gallery

References

Notes

1 2 3 4 Hess, Catherine. "Ritratto del Cardinal Alessandro Damasceni Peretti di Montalto", I marmi vivi: Bernini e la nascita del ritratto barocco, pp. 230–32.
1 2 Lavin, Irving. "Bernini's bust of Cardinal Montalto", Burlington Magazine, 1985, vol. 127, pp. 32–38.

Bibliography

Avery, Charles (1997). Bernini: Genius of the Baroque. London: Thames and Hudson. ISBN 9780500286333.
Baldinucci, Filippo (2006) [1682]. The Life of Bernini. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press. ISBN 9780271730769.
Bernini, Domenico (2011) [1713]. The Life of Giano Lorenzo Bernini. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press. ISBN 9780271037486.
Dempsey, Charles (2000). Inventing the Renaissance Putto. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina. ISBN 9780807826164.
Mormando, Franco (2011). Bernini: His Life and His Rome. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226538525.
Wittkower, Rudolf (1955). Gian Lorenzo Bernini: The Sculptor of the Roman Baroque. London: Phaidon Press. ISBN 9780714837154.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bust of Alessandro Peretti di Montalto (Bernini).

Gian Lorenzo Bernini

Sculpture

1610s	The Goat Amalthea with the Infant Jupiter and a Faun Bust of Giovanni Battista Santoni A Faun Teased by Children Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence Saint Sebastian Bust of Pope Paul V Aeneas, Anchises, and Ascanius Bust of Giovanni Vigevano Damned Soul Blessed Soul

1620s	Bust of Carlo Antonio del Pozzo Neptune and Triton The Rape of Proserpina Apollo and Daphne Bust of Pope Gregory XV St. Peter's Baldachin Charity with Four Children David Bust of Alessandro Peretti di Montalto Saint Bibiana Busts of Pope Urban VIII Bust of Monsignor Pedro de Foix Montoya Bust of Cardinal Roberto Bellarmine Bust of Cardinal Giovanni Dolfin Bust of Cardinal Escoubleau de Sourdis Bust of Antonio Cepparelli Bust of Cardinal Melchior Klesl Two Angels in Sant'Agostino Bust of Francesco Barberini Bust of Antonio Barberini Bust of Camilla Barbadoni Busts of Cardinals Agostino and Pietro Valier Memorial to Carlo Barberini Tomb of Pope Urban VIII Saint Longinus Sleeping Hermaphroditus (mattress)

1630s	Statue of Carlo Barberini Two Busts of Cardinal Scipione Borghese Tomb of Countess Matilda of Tuscany Pasce Oves Meas Bust of Costanza Bonarelli Busts of Paolo Giordano and Isabella Orsini Statue of Pope Urban VIII Bust of King Charles I Bust of Thomas Baker Medusa

1640s	Bust of Cardinal Richilieu Memorial to Alessandro Valtrini Memorial to Ippolito Merenda Memorial to Maria Raggi Truth Unveiled by Time Bust of Pope Leo X Ecstasy of Saint Teresa Raimondi Chapel Noli Me Tangere

1650s	Busts of Pope Innocent X Bust of Francesco I d'Este The Vision of Constantine Chair of Saint Peter Saints Jerome and Mary Magdalen

1660s	Statue of Alexander VII Busts of Alexander VII Elephant and Obelisk Angel with the Crown of Thorns Angel with the Superscription Bust of Gabriele Fonseca Bust of Louis XIV Equestrian Statue of King Louis XIV

1670s	Blessed Ludovica Albertoni Tomb of Pope Alexander VII Statue of Pope Clement X

Architecture and
fountains

Paintings

Self-Portrait as a Young Man
Portrait of Pope Urban VIII
Saint Andrew and Saint Thomas
Self-Portrait as a Mature Man
Portrait of a Boy
Christ Mocked

List of works by Gian Lorenzo Bernini

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